|
The Delhi High Court has passed an interim order protecting the personality rights of Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan by restraining various entities from misusing his image, name, voice or other elements of his persona for monetary gains without his consent or authorisation.
The Court prohibited the respondents from misusing his name, image, voice, acronym, likeness, or any attributes uniquely identifiable with him. The Court passed an ex parte ad interim injunction after noting that Bachchan had established a prima facie case. It held that the unauthorised exploitation or misappropriation of his personality attributes amounted to infringement and could mislead the public into believing that he was endorsing the goods or services being circulated. "The unauthorised misuse of Abhishek Bachchan's name and personality attributes constitutes infringement and creates confusion in the public perception of endorsement," the bench observed, adding that irreparable loss, damage, and injury would be caused to his economic interests, goodwill, reputation, and prestige if immediate protection was not granted. The Court also restrained the defendants from disseminating any product or content through any medium, technology, or format that could result in dilution of Bachchan's public persona. Justice Tejas Karia, while recording submissions from Bachchan's counsel, emphasised that platforms like Google could be directed to take down infringing content if URL-specific details were provided. "We can ask Google to take down. But you have to give a URL specific to each defendant. YouTube, Amazon, and Flipkart are mentioned in the petition, but this order cannot be granted generally. It has to be divided defendant-wise," the judge clarified. Bachchan is represented by a legal team led by Advocates Pravin Anand, Ameet Naik, Madhu Gadodia, Dhruv Anand, and others. His recent plea had highlighted the circulation of manipulated videos, GIFs, and deepfakes based on his films, many of which included sexually explicit and defamatory material. The petition also invoked Section 38B of the Copyright Act, 1957, arguing violation of his moral rights in performances and contending that the manipulated clips not only exploit his work but also lower his dignity by portraying him in false and unsavoury contexts. The Court's order echoes its similar observations in the petition moved by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, which was heard on September 9. Justice Karia indicated that her matter too would attract interim protection against misuse of her name, images, and AI-generated explicit content. The Court noted that her case involved fraudulent merchandise and even impersonation in the name of a fake company, "Aishwarya Nation Wealth." While the Court acknowledged the desirability of a single consolidated order, it stressed that reliefs had to be tailored defendant-wise, and takedown directions would require specific URLs or could otherwise be processed through the Blocking and Screening Instructions (BSI) framework. The matter has been scheduled for further proceedings on January 15, 2026. (ANI)
|
